Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

— Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm. Typically, this caliber of bankers wouldn’t talk to you unless your company had five profitable quarters of increasing revenue.

Founder 252

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 252

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

They need to believe your valuation, based on current revenue and intellectual property, and feel the equity offered gives them a real return for the risk. These show a focus on the business elements required for success, and metrics for ensuring accountability, management control, and feedback along the way.

Intellectual Property 352

Intellectual Property Equity Bootstrapping Valuation 352

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations.   Investors sometimes “present” the terms they’d like and expect the entrepreneurs to react. The Valuation Question.   You can vary both valuation and term-sheet assumptions (in the gray boxes) to assess the impact on the values of the business.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

You may have a thoughtful business plan, a proven team, and a great product, but if the market isn’t big enough to present them with an outsized opportunity to make money, they’ll pass. You may be able to generate revenue, but VCs want exponential growth. Investors want to feel confident that they’ll see a return on their investment.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

I use Google Drive to host my conference presentations , which are all embedded at teten.com. I previously posted a detailed presentation with sales technology tools useful for B2B sales. Lighter Capital, a Revenue Based Investing VC, offers a Cost of Capital Calculator. If you have one, please contact me. 7) Negotiate .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Master of 500 Hats: Startup Metrics for Pirates (SeedCamp 2008, London) This presentation should be required reading for anyone creating a startup with an online service component. He also has a discussion of how your choice of business model determines which of these metric areas you want to focus on.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Cracking the Code

JULY 6, 2007

SaaS business metrics: why are they different? I was surprised today when I went through the NetSuite IPO filling (S1) to see that it looked very much like any Enterprise software document - not a single mention of churn or % of recurring revenues. Different models require different performance metrics. Friday, July 06, 2007.

Software Review 66

Software Review Metrics Valuation Technical Review 66

Gust

JULY 23, 2014

So even if my own mother asked me to meet with you, and you were pitching me a biotech opportunity for a $10 million investment at a $90 million valuation, I might take the meeting, but it wouldn’t be particularly useful for either of us. Now comes the really tricky part: getting me to review all that stuff you just neatly uploaded.

Angel Investor 153

Angel Investor Elevator Pitch Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review 153

Up and Running

JANUARY 14, 2022

Our major challenge was how do we compete with companies that have billion-dollar valuations, millions in investor funding, and millions in revenue? This metric let us know the potential traffic available in our niche – excluding brand searches. This is a subjective metric but still important. Domain authority.

SEO 104

SEO Software Review Search Acquisition 104

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 23, 2011

It would have been easy to explain the difference by changes in the 2010/2011 revenue growth projections but unfortunately that is not the case. revenues while large caps are trading at 6.4x. Very good Diagrammatic Presentation. Detailed SaaS Spreadsheet (Valuation and CAC benchmark). SaaS 13 Index Valuation.

Software Review 101

Software Review Technical Review Valuation Europe 101

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

This post describes how companies using the Customer Development model can increase their credibility, valuation and probability of getting a first round of funding by presenting their results in a “Lesson Learned&# venture pitch. Tons of advice is available on how to pitch , present and market your company.

Customer Development 264

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 264

Hearpreneur

AUGUST 5, 2020

I’ve found that due to the undeniable efficacy that remote work-teams are presenting due to the coronavirus pandemic, the online management and accountability software industry are ripe for disruption. It helped them to engage already existing customers with the brand and kept the revenues steady. will be ever-present going forward.

Technical Review 156

Technical Review Software Review Entrepreneur China 156

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Many Asian entrepreneurs tell me that they want to raise funds from Silicon Valley firms because they perceive the valuations to be higher. Valuations are based more on typical later-stage type of metrics. Finally, don’t over-optimize on valuation. This is even true for the Asian arms of Silicon Valley VCs.

Asia 132

Asia Silicon Valley India Term Sheet 132

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

Low supply of companies with traction drove the valuations and deal sizes up. In that presentation, I said that Seed is not the first round of financing any more and that K9’s investments were mostly “pre-seed”. Valuations are rising to match. The risk here is what I refer to as the curse of over-capitalization. The Epilogue.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

ConversionXL

AUGUST 11, 2021

A sponsorship strategy should cover five areas: Assets Audience data Asset valuation Activations Market identification. Asset valuation. They work by allowing your sponsor to make an impact with your audience directly, presenting a clear ROI. How to present your fulfillment report. Activations. Source ).

Audience 139

Audience Social Media Email Ruby 139

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 22, 2018

As a group, we’ve gotten a firmer grasp on top-of-the-funnel metrics. To get marketing a seat at the table and prove that it can drive revenue and pipeline, we’ve become borderline obsessed with numbers. Conversions (e.g. form fills). Black box]. However, some visibility is better than none at all. Why do I say that?

B2B 131

B2B Marketing Analytics Campaign 131

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

This past May was the 10th anniversary of LinkedIn, and while reflecting on my entrepreneurial journey, I realized that no one gets to see the presentation decks for successful companies. Friendster’s valuation set the tone for the entire social networking space. we had no revenue. Investors see a lot of pitches.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

David Teten

AUGUST 6, 2015

financial statement summaries, valuation analysis, ratio analysis, etc.) Make this easy for them by creating a dedicated presentation outputs section and positioning it at the front of the spreadsheet. A model that shows Beginning Cash + Revenue – Expenses = Ending Cash doesn’t tell the whole story.

Balance Sheet 60

Balance Sheet Software Review Forecast Acquisition 60

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 1, 2009

Detailed SaaS Spreadsheet (Valuation and CAC benchmark). SaaS 13 Index Valuation. SaaS business metrics: why are they different? As we get close to the end of the year, I thought it would be interesting to put together a post on how to approach the 2010 planning. S&M productivity (CAC ratio) for the SaaS 13 Index.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Cloud Europe 48

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Five Quarters of Profitability During the 1980’s and through the mid 1990’s startups going public had to do something that most companies today never heard of – they had to show a track record of increasing revenue and consistent profitability. There was now a public market for companies with no revenue, no profit and big claims.

Silicon Valley 223

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 223

Up and Running

OCTOBER 3, 2018

Financial Summary: Explain your business model, startup costs, revenues, and liabilities to the company. Milestones and metrics that you’ll need to hit to be viable. What to include: Positioning : Describe how you will present your company to the market. Milestones and metrics. Be specific. Mention your funding needs.

El Paso 61

El Paso Business Plan Technical Review Forecast 61

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

An investor had few hard metrics other than the actual financials, and little technology to make the process scaleable. Over the past few decades, better metrics became available, and investors could take a more analytical, data-driven approach. ” Historically, investing was a manual, artisan process.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

To start the discussion, we presented a few data points on how our SaaS 13 Index (13 public SaaS companies) has been affected by the downturn - and unfortunately, the hit has been pretty hard, with the Index losing 60% year to date as illustrated by the chart below: SaaS 13 Index (Jan. With this decline, the average EV/08 rev.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Valuation Portfolio 48

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

There’s been ample coverage in the popular press of course highlighting everything from the company’s revenue growth, lack of profitability, and the well-publicized fact that founder/CEO Jack Dorsey is also CEO of Twitter so would theoretically be running two public companies simultaneously. Square really democratized “card present” (e.g.

IPO 165

IPO .Net Revenue Acquisition 165

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

New startup founders keep all the operating metrics they need in their head. Even if you don’t have a formal board of directors, it pays to have trusted advisors who will give you regular unbiased feedback on your team strengths and weaknesses, financial and operating ratio norms, and an external view of current company valuation issues.

Exit Strategy 120

Exit Strategy Startup Valuation Acquisition 120

Cracking the Code

MAY 25, 2010

Unveiling of the "10 Things Every CEO Needs to Know About Product Design" The best rated session of the day was the presentation by Jason Putorti on product design. Jasons presentation was focused on the "10 Things Every CEO Needs to Know About Product Design and User Experience". SaaS 13 Index Valuation. My Investments.

Software Review 74

Software Review Cloud IPO Jordan 74

Austin Startup

MAY 19, 2018

As you are evaluating us for the ability to execute and present, we are evaluating you for your insights, courtesy, ability to show up on time, and more. If the presentation was impressive, say it out loud. Don’t boomerang founders If you have specific metrics you look for in early stage companies. Get excited!

Founder 75

Founder Early Stage Software Review Deal Flow 75

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2010

That’s because a company’s value is a composite of all of the quantitative and qualitative factors that comprise a company: revenues, expenses, risks, growth prospects, quality of the management team, competitive advantages, strength of the intellectual property, and so forth. In business, one important measure is the value of the company.

Intellectual Property 223

Intellectual Property .Net Valuation Distribution 223

Ben's Blog

AUGUST 17, 2020

OH in South Park, San Francisco (or on Zoom from Big Sky, Montana): “OMG, crazy – that firm just paid 100x revenue to invest in [insert hot startup here] – what could they be thinking?” How valuation multiples work Why did multiples become a shortcut-heuristic for estimating valuations in the first place?

Valuation 36

Valuation Balance Sheet Cofounder Forecast 36

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Maybe you are wondering which metrics to track, or whether or not you should take out a loan for your business. Which metrics do you most rely on to understand your business itself. The question is what metrics do you most rely on to understand your business’s health? Two, revenue. What do you do? Four, pro forma.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Business model viability, in the majority of startups, will come down to balancing two variables: Cost to Acquire Customers (CAC) The ability to monetize those customers, or LTV (which stands for Lifetime Value of a Customer) Successful web businesses have long understood these metrics as they have such an easy way to measure them.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

The Next Web

DECEMBER 16, 2012

That’s given us insight into which valuation methods are good, helping site owners clinch that all-important deal, and which fall short, leaving sites unsold and their owners disappointed. Today I want to walk you through the more successful valuation methods in use now. This approach is based on the belief that revenue matters most.

Valuation 128

Valuation NPV Net Present Value IRR 128

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 26, 2022

So first, we were much more sort of with a high growth rate, and we did not even care about how we got the revenue when we got it. And now we are much more careful about revenue quality revenues. So the quality of growth has implications on the revenue stream’s sustainability. Would you say that? . David Zhang.

Partner 132

Partner Cofounder Retention Acquisition 132

The Equity Kicker

DECEMBER 2, 2015

Mahesh Vellanki from Redpoint put up an interesting post yesterday about ecommerce valuations. His major point is that revenue multiples aren’t that high, largely because the market is highly competitive and margins are low – often because of Amazon. revenue multiple because it’s strong on both these metrics.

Forecast 60

Forecast eCommerce Net Present Value Revenue 60

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 10, 2008

Be prepared to cross the desert - SaaS requires R&D and sales expense up front for a multi-year stream of revenue, so it demands enough investment capital to fund 4+ years of runway. Effectively measuring and understanding your CAC and CLTV metrics are key to future success. Great list! I particularly agree on points #2 and #4.

Software Review 48

Software Review North America Europe Metrics 48

betashop.com

OCTOBER 8, 2012

From the start we said that we would never make a decision as to what features to build or what products to sell based on revenue alone, rather we would focus on things that make our customers smile and by doing so lots and lots of revenue will fall out over time. Could they present to investors or reporters about Fab??.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Technology Software Review Valuation 108

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 4, 2008

T he response rate has been overwhelming and we ended up with 40+ companies and 80+ attendees, most of them CEOs and CxOs of leading public and private saas companies representing around 80% of the revenues of the SaaS industry in 2007. What metrics should I be using to drive a saas business? “Bookings” is for suckers.

Software Review 48

Software Review South Korea IPO Portfolio 48